Allow Your Painful Past To Minister To Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 2 Corinthians 1:3-6

As a minister, I often meet people at some of their lowest points in life. It has always been interesting to me the degree people will go to hide the painful parts of their life. We tend to portray our lives as struggle-free. We mask our hurts with fake smiles and half-hearted clichés of wellbeing.

I am not an advocate of blasting one’s struggles to everyone who will listen. I’m a private person myself. The truth is, however, that one person’s struggle helps another struggling with the same issue. It’s easier to identify with someone once you’ve experienced what he or she is experiencing. It is much more difficult to know how another person feels if you have never walked where he or she is walking.

For example:

• If you have never been hungry, it’s harder to really know hunger.
• If you have never been broken-hearted, it’s hard to know the pain of a broken heart.
• If you have never received rejection, it’s harder to understand being rejected.
• If you have never cried yourself to sleep, it’s harder to give empathy to those worn out from their tears.
• If you have never struggled to make a house payment, or a payroll, or a utility bill, it’s harder to understand the fear money (or the lack of it) can bring.

Have you been trying to hide the hurts in your life?

Remember, the pain of your past is one of your best assets to ministering to others. Ask God how He can use your past to help heal someone who is currently suffering.